Manga Bookshelf

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Archives for June 2024

Bookshelf Briefs 6/30/24

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Blue Box, Vol. 10 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – There is, thankfully, a bit more sports in this sports-based romance this time around. Chinatsu’s team is headed for a tournament, so they’re practicing harder than ever. Actually, Chinatsu’s practice habits may be starting to affect the rest of the team. Indeed, that’s the plot of this volume, where we hear about her childhood friend and mentor Yumeka, who quit basketball after junior high and departed on bad terms. Taiki being who he is, he finds out what really happened… though that gets him a healthy slap across the face from Yumeka, who does not need another shiny paragon of sports in her life, as it turns out that it was the pressure to be Chinatsu’s hero that broke her. This remains one of Jump‘s best series, and I hope the upcoming anime does really well. – Sean Gaffney

Cocoon Entwined, Vol. 6 | By Yuriko Hara | Yen Press – The large gap between each volume and the tendency of some of the characters to look the same has sort of dimmed my desire to review Cocoon Entwined, which I haven’t done since the second volume. But this is the final one, and it again succeeds better when read for pure mood than it does for plot reasons. That said, I did enjoy the burning of the hair and the realization that a tradition that had been optional and fun suddenly became this required chain around every student. And yes, there’s a yuri ending, which makes me happy, though it requires a breakup as well—a love triangle will tend to do that. I’ll still think “hair” whenever I think of this series, but it was a stylistically striking manga in the end. – Sean Gaffney

Friday at the Atelier, Vol. 1 | By Sakura Hamada | Yen Press – I was looking forward to this as I’d heard that it was very weird, but I don’t think I was quite ready for how weird it was. At its heart, this is a vague romance between two people who are bad at communicating and also possibly bad at life. Ishihara is a popular artist who draws nudes with fish surrounding them. He needs a model to pose on a couch with fish draped over her. He finds Tamaki, an office lady who, when we meet her, cannot decide if she should get the groceries and then kill herself, or vice versa. There’s a lot of amusing stuff going on here, and Tamaki’s obliviousness is amusing given that we usually see it coming from the guy. But her attitude towards life is terrifying, and Ishihara agrees with me. Lots of nudity, and some odd situations, but compelling. – Sean Gaffney

Kase-san and Yamada, Vol. 3 | By Hiromi Takashima | Seven Seas – These volumes are coming out every two years. On the good side, that means that the artist is presumably not being dragged through the hedge that is the Japanese manga experience, so I’m glad they are able to relax a bit. On the down side, it means I don’t get as much of Kase-san and Yamada, which is a shame, as these two are adorable. Much of this volume is dedicated to Yamada’s gardening club, which has a celebrity guest joining them from a pro gardening show—and he’s a gorgeous guy! Naturally, Kase-san is jealous, but at least is cognizant of it immediately. That said, she should have more faith in Yamada’s love for her, as it’s clear the only feelings between her and the guy are plant-based. Always sweet and cute. – Sean Gaffney

Magus of the Library, Vol. 7 | By Mitsu Izumi | Kodansha Comics – Somehow I did not review the sixth volume of this series, possibly as I had forgotten its main cast of 752 people once more. But it remains compelling. The first half of the volume is taken up by librarians deciding whether to ban a violent book that’s popular with children but also possibly an allegory for racism. It doesn’t help that those who want war and unrest are inciting riots about the book. Mixed in with this are the adventures of Theo and the library trainees, who are learning lots of cool things… and also that it can be hard to tell truth from lies, even if they’re written down. I also really liked an examination of one of the trainees who seems to be autistic, and how they’re (relatively) accepting of her. Always worth a read. – Sean Gaffney

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 9 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – We’re transitioning into the new arc, which starts towards the end of this volume. That means new hot guys, but also a “sequel” to the Fortune Lover game, which Katarina sees in a dream. Theoretically getting executed should be impossible given all she’s done so far… but we know how fate and otome games go, so it’s best she try hard to avoid it anyway. On the down side, this has the “Keith pushes Katarina down on the bed” scene, which Western fandom liked about as well as an appendectomy when it was in the anime, and unfortunately gives the sleepover bits short shrift. In any case, we’re now firmly in the second arc in the series, for better or worse, which is bad news is you like Mary, Sophia, Alan, or Nicol. – Sean Gaffney

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 10 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship Another volume, another girlfriend, another fetish. For the most part, Kishika seems to be on the relatively normal side of the girlfriend spectrum, as an upright, mature kendo captain. But that maturity has been forced on her since she was a little girl, and inside her is a desire to be babied. Which is fine, that’s the heartwarming part. It also leads to a desire to suck on Hahari’s breasts. That’s the fetish part. Aside from this, it’s the usual 100 Girlfriends toxin of heartwarming romance, ridiculous comedy, jaw-dropping ecchi stuff, and shattering the fourth wall. Oh yes, and Hakari and Karane kiss again. Twice. At this point they’re practically an official couple on their own. For the fan. – Sean Gaffney

Second Hand Love | By Yamada Murasaki | Drawn & Quarterly The second volume of Yamada Murasaki’s manga to be released in English, Second Hand Love, makes a marvelous companion to the first, Talk to My Back, in its compelling and honest examinations of the lives of women. But this time, Yamada intentionally turns her creative focus towards the “other woman”—the leads of the two manga collected in the volume, “A Blue Flame” (serialized 1983-1984) and the titular “Second Hand Love” (serialized 1986-1987), are both women who are having affairs with married men. Yamada’s characters are complex, with nuanced but largely sympathetic portrayals which recognize both the emotional freedoms and tolls brought about by relationships of this type. Also included in the collection are Yamada’s illustrations for Mita Masahiro’s novel A Loving Family as well as an interview from 1985. Second Hand Love is an exceptional work and extraordinarily easy to recommend. – Ash Brown

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 4 | By Sakaomi Yuzaki | Yen Press – Last time I called Yako the normal one in the series, but as much as I love this series when its characters sit around and eat food, it also has an agenda, and it’s one I love. Yako is a lesbian but also asexual, and that’s upset people in her life. As for our main couple, well, Kasuga is finally ready to move on from her abusive family entirely, but that will also mean moving out of her apartment. Could this be the impetus to finally force Nomoto to admit her feelings and confess? And there’s also tons of delicious food, which looks great when it’s cooked and great when it’s eaten. We even get more of Nagumo, who is starting to narrow down the specifics of her hatred of eating. This is one of my favorite manga to read whenever it comes out. – Sean Gaffney

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 8 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics – Yuki is ready to introduce her parents to Itsuomi, given that they’re about to move in together. That said, it turns out there’s family stuff that’s been kept from her, but is told to Itsuomi, who needs to understand that this is why they’re wary of him. He handles it as you’d expect—this is not a series to read if you want the romantic male lead to be imperfect and flawed. Meanwhile, there’s also Emma and Shin, who are at a hot spring and going through the most awkward “wait, shit, he loves me? What do I do now?” stuff. Theoretically they’re going to get together, but I suspect it’s too soon for her to get over Itsuomi for this to go anywhere. This remains a charming, if somewhat lackadaisical, shoujo manga. – Sean Gaffney

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 9 | By Misaki Takamatsu | Seven Seas – Shima likes Mitsumi, something that is relatively obvious to everyone around the two of them. Unfortunately, his past experiences have also left him with a somewhat ass-backwards idea of what loving someone else is, to the point where he needs a powerpoint presentation in the sauna (one of the funniest scenes in this series) to get it. More to the point, he has Mitsumi on a pedestal as someone who knows what she’s doing. In this volume, which shows the main cast visiting Mitsumi’s home for the break, he sees what she’s like in her own environment, and moreover meets her best friend Fumi, who’s able to clue him in: what makes him think Mitsumi understands love and her own heart? “She’s good at book smarts and nothing else.” I adore this series too. – Sean Gaffney

365 Days to the Wedding, Vol. 3 | By Tamiki Wakaki | Seven Seas After finally managing to get to Takuya’s hometown and let his family know why they’re doing this fake marriage thing, everything seems to be solved… except Rika runs into what appears to be a classic “childhood friend romance” that the oblivious Takuya is already involved in. Is this true? Probably not. Does it fill Rika with anxiety? Yup. By the end of the volume, the two of them have finally gotten to the point where they realize they’re actually attracted to each other, and he asks her on a date. But what will this mean for the fake marriage, which has to keep moving towards happening or their workplace will send them to Russia ASAP. I enjoy seeing how these are two people who are bad at communicating in very different ways. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 16 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The odd balance between heartwarming, overly syrupy romance between a husband and wife and their sexual exploits remains what makes this series interesting, and it’s nice to see Ikuma gradually realize that you don’t necessarily get pregnant the very first time you don’t use a condom. The ending to the volume seems to imply that it doesn’t take long after that, though. And we’ve also gotten word that this series will end with the eighteenth volume, which I guess answers my questions about whether the author can keep it horny despite a newborn child. In the meantime, these two really are blessed—we see how well they bonded even as little kids, and other couples around them break up even as they cruise along. – Sean Gaffney

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 12 | By Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha Comics – For all that we’ve been having fun watching our girls learn cool witch stuff, there is still a definite schism between things a witch does and things a doctor does, and if the witches try to cross that line, as we see here, they’ll be threatened at best. Which is kind of a shame, as there’s black leech tentacle beasts ravaging the city, and I think they need all the healing they can get. Coco once again proves to be able to come up with clever ideas on the fly, but she also has a nagging tendency to have bad luck, which means that she sees the evil witch who started all this, and now she has to be killed so that no one can know. Fortunately, she has teachers, and in this series, they’re definitely good guys. Still a fantastic and fascinating fantasy. – Sean Gaffney

You and I Are Polar Opposites, Vol. 1 | By Kocha Agasawa | Viz Media – Every once in a while you get one of those titles that decides to thrive on lack of conflict, and the media usually hype it up as not being like those other girls… erm, manga. I saw a lot of that with this series, a shonen romance that apparently avoids shoujo tropes, mostly as, well, it’s a shonen series. It is, however, pretty sweet. Loud goofy Suzuki likes quiet, stoic Tani. He likes her too. They date, and any conflicts they have barely last half the chapter. They’ve got fun friends as well. The art is very “busy,” and reminded me at times of the old messy Hana to Yume style of the early 00s. But if you do like romantic comedies, this is a good one to pick up, even if it doesn’t have all the drama folks assume regular manga has. – Sean Gaffney

A Tale of the Secret Saint, Vol. 6

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Kevin Ishizaka. Adapted by Matthew Birkenhauer.

This is not the first time I’ve seen this happening, but I am noticing that, having established the fact that Serafina was raped for weeks before she was murdered in the past, and that this is really the main source of the PTSD she still suffers, the novels are doing their best to dial that back so that they don’t have to make the reader think of it again. It’s become a sort of general demon trauma, but it’s also become specifically “that one guy”, who we (but not Fia) already know is not the “demon lord’s right hand man” at all. The front half of this book actually deals with that trauma, giving us an actual demon, and is quite good. Unfortunately, I think we have hot a new record, as the main part of the book ends just before the halfway point. We now have more side stories than regular plot.

Fia is still on vacation with Green, Blue, and Kurtis, and, since it came up when she returned to her childhood home, she goes into greater detail with them about her fear of demons. And it’s just in time, as while they’re up on the mountain they happen to run into a young woman with black hair and black eyes, who is clearly a demon but enjoys toying with them, calling herself a poor defenseless human. Unfortunately, she *is* a demon, “The Bird Cryer”, and much as they’d like to tell a panicked Fia to stay back and let them handle it, she’s more than the three others can handle. Fortunately, this is not the one demon Fia is traumatized by, so she’s able to pitch in. The rest of the book is, well, Fia being Fia. Which let’s be fair, might be why people are reading this book more than folks who are here for the plot.

So yeah, Fia is a giant silly person, who doesn’t get that she is obvious and unsubtle and super powerful. She hands out potions that can restore someone’s health from a coma without thinking about it. She hands Blue and Green (and yes, despite them giving it away several times, she still doesn’t know they’re royalty) a curse-destroying hairband for their sister, not thinking anything of it that she’s basically given her peace of mind and stopped the trauma. She gets her commanding officer one of the most powerful griffons in the land. Accidentally. She rediscovers magical hearing restoration potions as she didn’t realize that in the 300 years since she made them, they became unknown. If she put her mind to it, she could easily take over the world. Everyone but her knows this. Fortunately, she is 100% avoiding this. She’s just a knight, after all!

I really wish we had more main story and less side stories, but this remains funny and cute.

RVing My Way into Exile with My Beloved Cat: This Villainess Is Trippin’, Vol. 2

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By Punichan and Canarinu. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō wa Camping Car de Tabi ni Deru: Aibyō to Mankitsu Suru Self Kokugai Tsuihō ” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by sachi salehi.

When this series is playing to its strengths, it really works. Mizarie has a camper van, and it is basically her OP Sword or her “my magic defeats everything” item. We may one day find a monster that her camper van cannot defeat by simply running it over, but that moment dies not occur in this book. And that’s not really a spoiler, because this sort of series has no plot you have to care about. The only real dramatic thing from the last book, which is Raoul’s injured arm, is basically the “what drives me” plot here, but otherwise there’s no real danger or worry here. The camping is great. The cooking and eating is also great. The bits that are not camper van or cooking are not as great, but that’s the trouble with writing a series which revolves around one gimmick. Fortunately, there aren’t many points where that’s the case.

Mizarie wants to find an elixir that can heal Raoul’s damaged left arm, and for that they’ll have to go into a dungeon. So they head towards Labyrinth City, which is exactly what you’d expect, and we get the usual guild stuff. Mizarie also learns how to fight monsters, which worries her at first. But in this book, slimes really are ludicrously weak, so she’s fine with them. As for anything else… well, turns out the main dungeon they end up going to is, especially as they get lower down, wide enough for her camper van to pass through. So, good news: monsters are not an issue. (Admittedly, going back for drop items can be a pain.) When they finally reach the bottom of this dungeon, they’re met with a great spirit, who is pretty ticked off that they’re invading her home.

Again, the camper van remains the reason to read this, though there are many things here that will appeal to foodie isekai readers, such as Mizarie and Raoul selling filet-o-fish burgers to hungry adventurers for marked up “I’m at the airport” prices”. She levels up quite a bit in this book, mostly as, well, she runs all the monsters over. As a result, she gets things like an extra bedroom, a bathtub, a microwave and a dishwasher put into this magic storage space. Honestly, though, the best part of the van, aside from its sturdiness against orcs and goblins, its its GPS, which allows them to map the entire dungeon, locate monsters and other adventurers, and also solve the final puzzle that the Great Spirit has for them. No wonder the elf they’re traveling with decides to stay behind – she’s too jealous.

The third book is coming out in Japan in a month or so, and shows them going to the fantasy equivalent of Japan (boy, remember the villainess part of this book? The author doesn’t). To my surprise, it does not say it’s the final volume from the “three is enough” company Drecom. I’ll be reading it regardless. This remains the fluffiest sort of fun.

Like a Butterfly, Vols 1-3

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Like a Butterfly, Volumes 1-3 by Suu Morishita

Suu Morishita series are an automatic buy for me, after Shortcake Cake, I went against my self-imposed ban on buying digital first series to get A Sign of Affection (one of my favorites of all time), so I was delighted to have a chance to read an earlier series, Like a Butterfly. It deals with communication issues in a different way than Sign of Affection but is extremely compelling.

Like a Butterfly

Suiren is incredibly beautiful, but her beauty is actually a burden. People have an oversized reaction to her outward appearance, and she chose to go to an all girls middle school because of the unwanted attention. Unfortunately she received just as much attention there, but did have the benefit of some fierce female defenders who would fend off boys at the school gates. Over time, she began to develop a self-defense mechanism of speaking very little and having almost no self expression in order to not provoke any type of unwanted attention. She thus has the nickname “the mysterious flower”. Suiren’s old friend Aya is her main companion, and helpful social navigator. Suiren notices Kawasumi, a quiet boy with glasses who is consumed by karate a couple times at school. He comes to her rescue when an upperclassman takes her bag and announces that he’s going to walk her home. His method is to use some karate moves but expertly pull his punches so his opponent knows full well that Kawasumi could absolutely destroy him. With Kawasumi, Suiren has found someone that she wishes would notice her, but he’s not really able to talk to girls either, even though he notices her back.

An additional complication is introduced in the form of Koharu, a forthright girl who has developed a crush on Kwasumi and starts asking him out. She comments to Suiren that she doesn’t want to be a passive flower but a butterfly who will fly towards whatever she wants. Suiren is struck by the contrast in their personalities and also wants to go after what she wants. Like a Butterfly develops at a glacial pace, but due to the nature of Suiren and Kawasumi’s communication difficulties any interaction between them is charged with meaning. Their friends serve as both cheerleaders and sources of running commentary when they aren’t really able to express their feelings. Suiren gradually makes some overtures, but Kawasumi’s radar for dealing with attention for girls is so broken that he isn’t able to understand what’s happening very well. By the third volume, the not-quite-a-couple has been to a festival and Suiren has actually cheered Kawasumi on at a Karate tournament. The art for this series is great, I was continually amused by the many variations of Suiren’s expressionless face that end up actually telegraphing her feelings. I was predisposed to like this series and the first three volumes did not disappoint.

Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 9

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By Shoji Goji and Saku Enomaru. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Eric Margolis. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

Good news, we’re back to a normal page count for Loner Life. Which is still over 400 pages, but at least it doesn’t break the 500-page barrier like last time. As for the content, honestly, a lot of this is set up for a battle we haven’t gotten to yet. It’s clear that we will eventually be fighting the Evil Church, and the way that Haruka is stressing about it, in his own bananas way, suggests that he’s sure they have a secret weapon similar to Nefertiri. As such, everyone in the cast takes turns attempting to go and fight the battle, while keeping the others safe. Haruka wants to go alone. The girls all want to go. Angelica and Nefertiri want to protect Haruka. It’s a vicious circle of self-loathing and love. I appreciated Merielle lecturing Haruka towards the end of this book, telling him that women are stronger than he thinks, and eventually they are going to have to (as Marielle has) kill people. Stubborn Haruka still wants to avoid this.

On the cover is Arianna, the cleric who arrived at the end of the last book. She’s from an offshoot of the Church that isn’t evil, and has come to the group to ask for help. If you look at the “inner cover” all these volumes have, you’ll see her looking crazed and holding a sword, but I think that’s a deliberate deception – she’s not secretly a bad guy, she’s just being put through Haruka’s Training from Hell (the funniest part of the book, as he grabs her and the other folks in her party and literally swings them like swords (they are also holding swords) until they level up enough). And then the Church holds the royal family hostage, so something has to be done. And that something is… MORE leveling up, as Haruka is still trying to learn how to fight normally, and the girls are all still one step behind when it comes to being strong enough to go fight a major enemy on their own.

As with previous volumes in this series, it requires the reader to have a lot of recall about all the books books and who all the characters are, even when you haven’t seen them in a while. I appreciated the plot twist with the merchants (and it helps to set up future arcs), but I could have used a quick reminder about where we were with the elves, as I forgot they came back with Haruka and everyone else. I did really enjoy one moment near the end as Haruka struggles because his body is moving faster than his brain, where he appreciates how, unlike himself (who has to level up the weird way) or the nerds (who are gamers and think like gamers) and meatheads (who are strong enough to simply punch things till they win), the girls are having to deal every day with leveling up and their body being slightly different, having to learn how to move slightly differently, not being able to trust footwork… he really does see how they’re struggling and improving vastly. Even if he won’t say it to their face.

I left out all the sex stuff, but be assured it’s still there, and this book drips with horniness. As always, though, the interest lies in the other stuff. Next time, the church battle? Nope, judging by the cover, Beastmen are next.

Manga the Week of 7/3/24

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SEAN: Is the year really half over? Years aren’t what they used to be.

ASH: They really aren’t.

SEAN: Airship has one print title, the 6th volume of Raven from the Inner Palace.

ASH: I really need to catch up on this series before I get any further behind.

SEAN: Debuting digitally – the same week as its anime adaptation – is Too Many Losing Heroines! (Make Heroine ga Oosugiru!), a romcom about (sigh) a plain, boring guy who suddenly finds that all the hot, popular girls in his class are confessing to the guys they like… and being shot down! What’s going on here?

Also in early digital: Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 9 and Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 7.

Cross Infinite World debuts Soup Forest: The Story of the Woman Who Speaks with Animals and the Former Mercenary (Soup no Mori: Doubutsu to Kaiwa Suru Olivia to Moto Youhei Arthur no Monogatari). A woman who can hear the inner thoughts of humans and animals has spent her life either shunned or avoiding people, but then she meets a young man while working at her restaurant in the forest…

ASH: Okay, I’ll admit, that premise does check quite a few boxes for me, though not necessarily in a combination I was expecting.

ANNA: Does her forest restaurant also have jam? This is what I want to know.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World also have The Inconvenient Life of an Arousing Priestess 2 and Lovestruck Prince! I’ll Fight the Heroine for My Villainess Fiancée! 3 (the final volume).

Per retailers, Denpa Books has a 3rd volume of Baby Bear’s Bakery.

From Ghost Ship, we get Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight! 13-14 and Creature Girls: A Hands-On Field Journal in Another World 10.

J-Novel Club has one digital debut (actually, no more print for JNC, as they finished moving all their print titles over to Yen Press to distribute). To Another World… with Land Mines! (Isekai teni, Jirai-tsuki) is a manga adaptation of the light novel they’ve been releasing for a while, as a sensible guy gets isekai’d with his classmates, and tries to stop them accidentally being really stupid. It runs in Shonen Ace Plus.

ASH: Oh, I had missed that bit of news, though I’m glad the partnership with Yen Press is going well.

SEAN: Also from JNC, The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases 2, the 2nd manga volume of The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases, I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic 2, In Another World With My Smartphone 29, and When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace 11.

No debuts for Kodansha Manga, but we see, in print, A-DO 3, Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 3, Bless 2, A Brief Moment of Ichika 2, Medalist 3, Rent-A-Girlfriend 25 (it got bumped), and To Your Eternity 20.

And digitally we see Blue Lock 26, How to Grill Our Love 9, LIFE 16, Matcha Made in Heaven 9, Those Snow White Notes 19, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 14.

One Peace Books has I Hear the Sunspot: Four Seasons 2.

MICHELLE: I really want to read this. Someday. Sigh.

ASH: I have been greatly enjoying I Hear the Sunspot.

ANNA: I need to get caught up too!

SEAN: No debuts for Seven Seas either, but we see Berserk of Gluttony 10, Dragon Goes House-Hunting 10 (the final volume), The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 11, Homunculus 9-10 (also a final volume), Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari 7, Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills 2, My New Life as a Cat 6, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent: The Other Saint 4 (also also a final volume), and Servamp 20.

ASH: This would be a good time for me to actually give Homunculus a try, then.

SEAN: Square Enix has The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten 2 and Victoria’s Electric Coffin 2.

Viz Media continues the trend of no debuts. But we see Blue Box 11, Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You: Soulmate 2, Like a Butterfly 7, Marriage Toxin 3, Moriarty the Patriot 16, One Piece 106, Tamon’s B-Side 4, Wolf Girl and Black Prince 8, and World Trigger 26.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to more Soulmate (though perhaps I’m in the minority there) and eager to catch up on Tamon’s B-Side, as well.

ANNA: Oooh, more Like a Butterfly!!

SEAN: And that’s it! Has there been a shorter week lately? I don’t think so.

My Magical Career at Court: Living the Dream After My Nightmare Boss Fired Me from the Mages’ Guild!, Vol. 4

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By Shusui Hazuki and necomi. Released in Japan as “Black Madōgushi Guild o Tsuihō Sareta Watashi, Ōkyū Majutsushi to Shite Hirowareru: White na Kyūtei de, Shiawase na Shinseikatsu o Hajimemasu! ” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Mari Koch.

So, good news and bad news with this volume. The good news is that, mostly due to Luke being recovering in bed till the climax, there’s very little of the annoying pining going on. We get Noelle resolving the “he told me he loves me” cliffhanger at the start of this book, and she does it in the most Noelle way possible: “Oh, he totally means as a friend”. Unfortunately, in place of the tortured romance we get another one of THOSE nobles. You know, the ones that aren’t just evil but super duper evil with bells on. They murder, they blackmail, they poison, they rape, they’re pedophiles. I bet they also signed up for the Columbia House CD program without paying too. They’re so ludicrously bad it was almost distracting. But that’s the nature of these series, and no worries, once Noelle and Luke reunite, they’re basically unstoppable.

Despite what the cover shows, the subplot with Evangeline becoming Noelle’s bestest friend is only at the start of the book. It’s actually rather sweet, showing Evangeline as sort of a Yunyun type, who has no idea what friends actually do, so Noelle basically takes her out on a typical commoner day, eating, drinking, and having sleepovers. After this we get the more serious plot: the 3rd prince, who is 8 years old and has always been sickly, has been poisoned and is slowly dying. This is because the king is trying to have the nobles pay tax again, and the rich corrupt nobles object. Now Noelle, seconded to yet ANOTHER unit, must not only find a way to save the prince but also has to figure out the mole in their department who has been gathering evidence on the corrupt nobles and is trying to take matters into their own hands. Could it be the most obvious suspect?

Well, yes, it is the most obvious suspect. This is not a mystery, it’s a romantic suspense novel with comedic undertones. As such, Letitia is clearly going to get her tragic backstory now, though that’s less interesting than the fact that the relationship between Letitia and Gawain in school mirrors almost exactly the relationship between Luke and Noelle, and it’s also pretty clear there’s a romantic thing going on as well, which both are avoiding and which likely won’t happen as long as there’s “I need to lie in order to protect them” going on on both sides. Luke and Noelle don’t have that issue, but they may have a new issue carrying into Book 6: Luke’s attempts at getting Noelle by his side for good are upset by the Prince coming in and demanding that she move to HIS side. Everyone Wants Noelle. What can she do? Honestly, possibly continue to study as hard as possible to defeat her rival!

This remains great fun, and had some nice dramatic tension near the end. Just remember the Evil Noble Who Is Really Really Evil lurks within.

Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table, Vol. 1

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By Yushi Ukai and Nekometaru. Released in Japan as “Shibō Yūgi de Meshi o Kuu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Yuan.

It’s my own fault, really. I get lured in by people assuring me, no, this one is really good, it’s different from those other ones. And don’t get me wrong, it is! This is a good book. It’s got really nice twists, the few characters who last more than five pages are interesting, and the heroine is a fascinating headcase. I can see why fans of death game books will really enjoy this. But I don’t dislike the death game genre because they all tend to be generic and cynical, or because they’re badly written. I dislike the death game genre because it involves people playing a game where they die. And I mean, spoilers, that happens here. Not counting our heroine, there are only a few other characters who survive these games. That said, if you’re not me, this is really good, and does have enough twists and turns to make it a quite interesting book even if you’re not a death game fan.

Yuki wakes up on a bed, dressed in a maid uniform. But it’s OK. She’s done this sort of thing before. She gets up and moves to the main room, where she meets five other girls, also in maid outfits. They’re here to play a death game, which is known to some of them but a total surprise to others. Yuki has done this 27 times before this, so is an old hand at knowing what to do and how to survive, and tries to guide the others through it. Unfortunately, the game is filled with deadly traps that require deadly choices, and it won’t let them go without at least a couple of deaths. Can Yuki manage to take all the experience she has and keep the others safe?… not really. That’s not what this book is about at all. Yuki is here to survive. And to do that, well, sometimes you need to do bad things.

The book starts off saying this takes place in a “deranged world”, and it’s not wrong. This is a world where constant death games are the entertainment, with contestants coming back over and over for various reasons if they survive. Oh yes, this may change in future books, but all the guests are young women or teenage girls. I get the feeling I know the exact audience this world is aiming for. The book also does a clever thing where the first half shows us Yuki in her 28th game, blase about everything, and the second half shows us Yuki in her 9th game, still with a bit of soul left in her. Yuki is, not to put too fine a point on it, a mess. Far from being there to put food on the table, it feels like she plays death games as she’s unable to really cope with any other kind of life. That said, she’s not an actual killer, like some of the other contestants. She’s just sort of broken.

Again, this was good, and I can see why it won awards (though I can’t really see why they had the judges do two of the three afterwords). But, again. Death games. I’ll stick with Higurashi and Umineko, but leave the Dangan Ronpa generation (which gets mocked in this first book) to its own.

You Are My Regret, Vol. 2

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By Shimesaba and Ui Shigure. Released in Japan as “Kimi wa Boku no Regret” by Dash X Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andria McKnight.

It’s a good thing these books are relatively short, because wow, I really cannot stay too long in the depths of the teenage drama we get with these books. When the funniest joke in the book involves taking a box cutter away from a girl clearly using it on herself, saying he’s borrowing it and to ask for it later, you know you’re not on the light and fluffy end of the romcom scale. I mean, we all knew that Kaoru was in love with Yuzuru, and that he was unaware of this, but trust me when I say that solving that little problem turns out to be the easy part of this book. Because Kaoru also has her own life to deal with, and it’s one that Yuzuru is unaware of… but that will soon change. I suppose the good thing about being a teenager is you’re allowed to make mistakes while you’re young, but man, I really wanted to punch him about 3/4 through this book.

That cover image sort of sums up the entire book, but let me try my best anyway. Kaoru is coming to club a lot more erratically after the events of the first book, mostly as she sees that Yuzuru and Ai have made up, and clearly they’re a couple again. (That’s not quite true, something that allows the climax of this book to happen.) But Kaoru is also dealing with a lot of home trauma, some of which Yuzuru has heard about before. Her mother has had a string of bad men in the house, and apparently thinks little of having sex with them anywhere and everywhere in the house, which Kaoru has walked in on more than once. Worse, the new guy *seems* like a more respectable dude, but clearly isn’t. The stress of this combined with her first love being shattered leads her to try to push Yuzuru away as hard as possible. Unfortunately for her, he’s figured out how he screwed up with Ai, and is now over-correcting too hard in the other direction.

I am glad that Yuzuru’s mother emphasized how dumb he was when he intervened with Kaoru and her mother, as I dearly wanted to throttle him. I get it, the last time he didn’t talk things through and pulled away, it all went to shit, so there’s no way he’ll do that again. But here, not only does he get into physical danger thanks to a guy who (surprise) does turn out to be a piece of shit, he also manages to be Kaoru’s hero, which means there is absolutely no way she’s not confessing to him now. Fortunately, the girl whose problem will take up the third (and final?) volume does not appear to be in love with Yuzuru. Yet. I also felt that the resolution between Kaoru and her mother happened WAY too fast. I could say the same about Kaoru and Ai, but Ai has been presented to us as “flaky” since the start of the series, so I’ll give it a pass here.

So, if you like the Higehir author, or teen angst, this is still worth your time. Just.

Pick of the Week: Beating the Heat

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SEAN: Lots of BL and beloved authors to choose from this week, but I’m going to go with the latest of one of my favorite light novel series, Though I Am an Inept Villainess. This is supposed to be a “lighter” volume, we’ll see if that’s true.

MICHELLE: I am torn between Terano-kun and Kumazaki-kun and My Noisy Roommate, so maybe I can get away with picking both.

KATE: I’m intrigued by Kaina of the Great Snow Sea, not least because Tsutomu Nihei is credited as the author, so I’ll make that my POTW.

ANNA: I’m going to go with Mermaid Prince, just because I’m always curious about Kaori Ozaki series.

ASH: All strong choices, for sure, but I’ll be joining Anna this week in picking Mermaid Prince; I’ve really enjoyed Kaori Ozaki’s past work and so look forward to reading more.

Babel: A Girl Embarks on a Journey of Words

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By Kuji Furumiya and Haruyuki Morisawa. Released in Japan as “Babel I: Shoujo wa Kotoba no Tabi ni Deru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Amelia Imogen Mason.

I will admit this review is slightly harder now that the Spring Anime season is al;most over. “From the creator of Unnamed Memory, the hot new anime, a semi-sequel!” would be a much bigger deal if the anime had not been a lifeless mediocre adaptation determined to get through the story as fast as possible. Which is a problem when you have an author that writes books as long as Furumiya does. This one is 460 pages, a good 300 pages longer than the average KonoSuba. It doesn’t lend itself well to a speedrun. So, I will amend: if you enjoyed READING Unnamed Memory, and also enjoyed the author’s series A Pale Moon Reverie, this is more of the same, with good character writing and some exciting action scenes. And yes, it is a sequel, but it takes place 300 years after the first series, and you don’t need to have read it to get a lot out of it.

Shizuku is a young college student dealing with a massive case of middle child syndrome when one day she is confronted with a mysterious hole in space, which transports her to another world. She is lucky to survive landing in the middle of a desert, and ends up in a town that is clearly nothing like the Japan she knows. Fortunately, she comes across a stoic but kind mage, Erik, who promises to help her try to find a way back home, if she will teach him about her mystery books. As, while Shizuku can speak the same language as everyone else in this world, that does not extend to reading or writing, so she just has her college textbooks, which are in Japanese. And English, and German, which she’s also studying. Can she get home without getting involved in plot stuff? And can she learn to read and write from the handsome but remote young man with a mystery past?

Shizuku is easily my favorite part of the book, yet another heroine with massively low self-esteem who doesn’t understand how fantastic she is. Her older sister had extroversion and charm, her younger sister had focus and anger, and Shizuku seems to have seen herself as someone who wasn’t really much of anything, floating through life. That said, she’s able to stand up to a lot of situations in this book that would give most people the screaming heebie jeebies. The isekai part of this book (which was rewritten and expanded from a version that came out in 2016) is new to this author, whose Unnamed Memory was known for avoiding the standard light novel cliche. But it’s handled well here – Shizuku only has her college freshman education, which means that she struggles to explain things she learned through cultural osmosis, and she will not be inventing mayonnaise anytime soon. That said, the fact that she isn’t of this world allows her to save the day at the end of this book, and I expect this to continue.

This has already ended in Japan, and so we know there’s 3 more books, no doubt as big as this one. I’m here for them. I really love this author.

Miss Savage Fang: The Strongest Mercenary in History Is Reincarnated As an Unstoppable Noblewoman, Vol. 2

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By Kakkaku Akashi and Kayahara. Released in Japan as “Savage Fang Ojō-sama: Shijō Saikyō no Yōhei wa Shijō Saikyō no Bōgyaku Reijō to natte Futatabime no Sekai o Musō Suru” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

First of all, some good news: while she is still fairly worshipful towards Mylene, the character of Colette is allowed to keep a lot of her kickass attitude from the first book. In particular, while I would not call this a yuri book per se, it is very clear that a) Mylene, being a male mercenary reincarnated, is not interested in men, and b) Colette is incredibly thirsty for Mylene and will absolutely try to seduce her whenever she gets a chance, held in check only by Mylene’s grumpy attitude and realization that it would upend a lot of things Mylene does not want upended. Basically, Mylene is looking to get through the next few years without what happened in the previous world happening again. Unfortunately, that religious cult is still around, they do not like Mylene at all now that she’s not their evil queen bitch, and they are ready to assassinate her.

Sure, this may take place in a world with magic, gods, and apocalyptic prophecies, but we are still in a high school of sorts, adn that means that there’s going to be a culture festival. Or the equivalent in this universe, which basically has the students compete to see if they can be good businessmen and women. Mylene realizes that selling upscale goods that nobles can get anywhere is not going to cut it, and suggests what amounts to a maid cafe… and is somewhat horrified to find that this means she will have to wear a maid outfit as well. There’s also a student, Melissa, who is hanging around, glaring at Mylene, and then running away. She’s essentially the “heroine” of this universe, a priestess who led the charge against Mylene in the old world and died a martyr. Here Melissa is more concerned by Mylene’s current personality, which is nothing like her old one.

This had a big “difficult second album” feel to it, as I got the sense that the author had written it as a one-shot and wasn’t sure where to go from here. The fact that we haven’t had a 3rd volume in Japan in the last two years does not really help that feeling. Still, the volume’s not bad. Colette is just plain hilarious, especially when she’s trying to politely say “take me now” and getting into fierce rivalry with Prince Albert. (She also gets the blatant fanservice in the book’s color pages.) The assassin himself is also interesting, mostly as he’s not a devoted cultist like the last bad guy, but a serial killer who just delights in killing off “interesting people” for the sake of the drama. Literally – he was a playwright. The final fight between him and Mylene is excellent, though I was annoyed that Melissa is basically just there to be a plot device. Oh well, I’m sure she’ll integrate better in the next volume.

If there is one. Till then, this is decent enough villainess fare, for those who like one who swears a lot.

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 7

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By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

This series continues to feature more of exactly what readers want, provided what readers want is Amane having an amazingly low self-image and also being overly polite about “not going too far” to the point that it’s actually starting to annoy Mahiru a bit. More to the point, now that they are a couple, and everyone in school knows it, they’re both having to deal with jealousy. Yes, both. It’s expected from Amane, as Mahiru is the Angel of the School, and that’s the premise of the series. But Mahiru is also starting to realize that her attempts to clean up Amane’s life, give him some self-esteem, and show off what a great guy he is means that other girls are going to think the same thing. And she hates that. It all comes to a head at the culture festival, featuring maid costumes, butler costumes, and lots and lots of thirst. Well, it’s Angel Next Door. Not thirst. Mild dryness.

So yes, it’s culture festival time, though this is a milder one compared to other series – no outsiders, invited family and friends only. But there’s still maid cafes, and much to Amane’s annoyance, that’s what the class chooses, even if it means everyone will be ogling his girlfriend all day. That said, she does look REALLY good in that outfit. And he also looks really cool as a butler, though you’ll never hear him say that – all signs of him being cool come from outside his own self-hating narrative, because you can try to clear up all the past trauma but it still lingers on when the plot demands it. Can he survive a customer trying to grope Mahiru’s ass? Can he survive his parents being amazingly embarrassing? And, yes, we finally get the full story on Itsuki.

We’ve heard the story of Itsuki and Chitose in dribs and drabs, and some of it in the short story book, but here we get the actual reasons behind things. He’s from a rich family, where there’s actually a need to carry on the family name. Being a second son, this should not affect him – except the first son decided to marry the girl he liked, who was not father approved. And now that he sees Itsuki doing the same thing, he is determined to dislike Chitose, especially since she’s the sort of girl that would grate on him regardless. I like how everyone realizes and admits that there’s no way to “fix this”, and there’s nothing Chitose is doing wrong per se. It’s just that sometimes family can be difficult. And even so, Mahiru ends up being jealous, as even though Itsuki’s father is against his relationship at least he acknowledges Itsuki exists. Mahiru still has the worst parents crown.

All this plus Amane’s determination to be a gentleman, to the point where Mahiru has to almost browbeat him into using his tongue. The Slow Burn Express is not stopping at this volume, but it’s good anyway.

Manga the Week of 6/26/24

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SEAN: The end of June, and if you’re in North America, dangerously high temperatures. Stay inside with manga.

MICHELLE: Good plan.

ASH: I do like manga more than I like the heat.

SEAN: Yen Press has one straggler, the third volume of Pandora Seven.

From Viz Media we get Fist of the North Star 13 and My Name Is Shingo: The Perfect Edition 2.

ASH: An excellent Viz Media week.

SEAN: Tokyopop has A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation 8, Never Let Go 2, and Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide 5.

We get Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition 15 from Square Enix.

Seven Seas brings out the big guns for next week. Gravitation: Collector’s Edition is a deluxe large-trim omnibus edition of one of the iconic 1990s BL series. New translation as well. A rock singer gets his lyrics trashed by a handsome novelist. What follows is some of the most iconic soap opera trash out there. If you were too young to understand Gen-X fandom, this will help.

MICHELLE: Haha. This is one case where I think the anime is better than the manga.

ANNA: Oh, I remember Gravitation!

ASH: Sure takes me back.

SEAN: The other debut is also BL: Stay By My Side After the Rain (Ameagari no Bokura ni Tsuite), a nice little romance about a jaded office worker who reunites with his high school crush.

MICHELLE: Looks potentially cute!

ASH: D’awww.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! 5, The Dragon Knight’s Beloved 7, I Got Caught Up In a Hero Summons, but the Other World was at Peace! 8, Machimaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person Into a Magical Girl! 12, Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes 2, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 9, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 10.

One Peace Books has Tales of the Tendo Family 2.

MICHELLE: I should read this.

ASH: I really liked the first volume.

SEAN: KUMA is listed as having a debut out next week. Terano-kun & Kumazaki-kun is a BL title from Qpa about a student council president and a scary-looking yankee who are a couple… and the scary-looking one’s the uke!

MICHELLE: This one has a fun cover.

ANNA: Sounds cute.

ASH: I have a soft spot for yankee BL.

SEAN: KUMA is also listed as having Happy Crappy Life 3 out next week. (The usual Denpa/KUMA warnings apply.)

ASH: Fair.

SEAN: Kodansha Books has a 5th volume of As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World.

Debuting from Kodansha Manga is Kaina of the Great Snow Sea (Ooyukiumi no Kaina), the latest Tsutomu Nihei series, though the art is now being done by Itoe Takemoto, who also draws The Beast Player. A young tree-dweller who thinks his people are the last ones alive finds out that’s not actually true. It runs in Shonen Sirius.

MICHELLE: I will likely miss Nihei’s art, but generally enjoy his works, so I will give it a chance.

ASH: Same.

SEAN: Kodansha Manga also has a debut from Kaori Ozaki: Mermaid Prince (Ningyo Ouji). This is actually a short story collection, with the title manga being the main story. It’s done in one, and ran in Wings, making its genre “whatever Wings is”.

MICHELLE: I have liked the Ozaki I have read previously!

ANNA: Oooh, I like Ozaki and non-specific genres!

ASH: I will always pick up an Ozaki manga.

SEAN: And the debuts keep coming, as we also see My Noisy Roommate: The Roof Over My Head Comes with Monsters and a Hottie (Noisy Roommate – Ienashi ni Natta node Ikemen to Kaii Tsuki Bukken de Doukyo Hajimemashita), a BL-ish series from Palcy. This looks like it’s a “normal guy winds up living with weird supernatural folks” sort of series.

MICHELLE: I am just constitutionally unable to resist this.

ASH: It’s a subgenre that I tend to enjoy, too.

SEAN: Also in print: EDENS ZERO 29, Initial D Omnibus 2, Nina the Starry Bride 5, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement 7, Shangri-La Frontier 12, A Sign of Affection Omnibus 2, and Super Morning Star 4 (the final volume).

ANNA: Always here to cheer on the print editions of Nina the Starry Bride and Sign of Affection!

ASH: I really need to get caught up with both of those.

SEAN: No digital debuts, but we do see The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses 13, Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me 10, Gamaran: Shura 21, My Home Hero 17, The Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 7, and You’re My Cutie 8.

No debuts for J-Novel Club either, but we have new volumes. Back to the Battlefield: The Veteran Heroes Return to the Fray! 4, Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 14, Chivalry of a Failed Knight 2, Earl and Fairy 6, Forget Being the Villainess, I Want to Be an Adventurer’s 3rd manga volume, Heavenly Swords of the Twin Stars 2, and An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! 7.

Hanashi Media has the 9th and final volume of Another World Survival: Min-maxing my Support and Summoning Magic.

Ghost Ship features a 2nd volume of Becoming a Princess Knight and Working at a Yuri Brothel.

Lastly, Airship, in print, has the 2nd volume of The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain.

And in early digital we see Raven of the Inner Palace 6 and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 7.

What manga is keeping you cool?

Demons’ Crest, Vol. 1

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By Reki Kawahara and Yukiko Horiguchi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by James balzer.

I had heard, for some reason, that this was Reki Kawahara wanting to do something different, and if you look at this book superficially, you might laugh. It’s about a bunch of folks who get trapped in a gaming environment where they can actually be killed, and most of the battles and technical talk is straight from the gamer handbook. And we also have eye/ear tech that bonds with your body and is used by absolutely everyone in the real world, as this takes place about 10 years in the future. Fans of SAO and Accel World must be going hrm. And yes, it does feel sort of like an author of romance fics featuring the same couple deciding to do something different by doing a Pirate AU of that exact couple, but I do think this has a few things that really do make it different. First of all, these are 11 and 12-year-olds, meaning for once being immature jerks is actually not only tolerable but expected. Secondly, it’s clear that what Kawahara REALLY wanted to write is a Death Game. (Yes, yes, SAO, but…)

The kids of Yukihana Elementary School are excited. They get to try out a brand new, still in testing virtual reality game that feels just like real life!… well, mostly. They’re still working on smell and taste. We follow Yuuma Ashihara and his twin Sawa, as well as their childhood friend Nagi and Yuum’s best friend Kenji as they try to capture monsters, card-captor style, and defeat dungeon bosses. Then suddenly Yuuma finds himself back in the VR capsule… and when he gets out of it, he finds the class idol, Sumika, stumbling towards him, with her face blank except for a row of ravenous teeth and holding a severed arm, presumably of a classmate. Now he has to join up with his sister and best friend (childhood friend is missing) to try to figure out what’s going on and survive.

This does do some things well. The romance is kept to a 12-year-old level, which is a bit of a relief, frankly, especially as the body count starts to get higher. The action scenes are as good as you’d expect for this author. I admit I was a little annoyed with Sawa clearly putting off telling her twin brother (and the reader) what really happeneed till the cliffhanger ending, as it felt forced. There’s also a guy in here… I forget what his name in the book is, because I just called him “Monoma Neito” as soon as I read him, and anyone who’s read My Hero Academia will do the same. Only, unlike Monoma, this guy looks to be actually evil. Lastly, I did enjoy the fact that folks think about what will happen if they do escape this. The monsters are not all game-only, some are classmates or adults turned into monsters, and I don’t think “I killed them because it was a death game” will fly if they get back to reality and have to explain things.

Still, reality looks a long way away. Fortunately, there is a 2nd volume coming soon, which hopefully features Sawa actually talking. Till then, for fans of ‘trapped in a game’, death games, or this author.